The Wii U and You

“Project Café” has now turned into the “Wii U” whether or not that’s a good thing, who’s to say? Nintendo thinks it’s good, so we’ll just have to go with it. Is it good? Nintendo’s thoughts aside, I’m not so sure.

From the perspective of a legally blind person with Cerebral Palsy, I would have definitely liked to have seen the next step in Nintendo’s evolution of gaming be more traditional, but considering how far from traditional the Wii is, traditional would have been a step backwards for the company.

That’s great and all, but what is it? Unconventional, that’s what. It’s been known for quite some time now that it’s more powerful than the Playstation 3, features high-definition graphics, and that’s about it. The Nintendo Wii U delivers on all those fronts, but it’s not what a lot of us thought was going to be coming.

The Wii U looks more like the love-child of an iPad and a current-gen controller  than anything.  Way to go Nintendo, you’ve melded your competitions products together and got your next big thing. In the process, and I’m going out on a limb here, but I think you’ve set yourself up to alienate the majority of AbleGamers.

Let’s look at the big picture, by which I mean the Wii U’s 6.2-inch screen and high-definition graphics. See the problem there? Yes it is nearly twice as big as both the Dsi XL’s screens put together, but are visually impaired gamers going to want to play games which are meant for a home console on a less-than 7-inch screen. No! Emphatically no! Sure, players will have the option to throw it up on their home television screens, but that defeats the purpose of the Wii U’s functionality. What good is having that large of a screen in your hands if you’re just going to put it up on the TV so you can play a game intended for a 6.2-inch screen? Without a given price-point, I can only speculate that the PS3 or X360 is going to be more of a bargain until at least the time their next-gen consoles come out.

Next, let’s consider it’s size and where it’s going to leave those with mobility challenges. Answer: probably up the creek without a paddle; One-handed gamers will be left out due to the size of the Wii U controller. There are probably some pretty dexterous one-handers out there with larger hands than mine, so reaching across a 6.2-inch screen to use the directional and face-buttons might be less of a challenge, but what about the shoulder buttons? What about the sliders? Like I said, up the creek without a paddle. That’s not to mention the inherent loss of functionality of the screen by trying to play with just one hand. That’s not the only issue of mobility to consider; there’s button mapping, sliders, and so on. It just really doesn’t look like the friendliest option available to mobility-impaired AbleGamers.

There’s another demographic out there to consider - the hearing-impaired gamer. There’s not much that can be said here, but when most games don’t give subtitles the space they deserve, where is a 6.2-inch screen going to leave the hard-of-hearing? Say it with me this time… Up a creek without a paddle! I know it can be put up on a TV screen and that, but again, loss of expected functionality.

This may all change once the system has been put in consumers’ hands, but thinking of it just in terms of the pictures provided to us by E3, all of my speculation is justifiable. Then again, Nintendo may have something up their sleeves that may redeem the Wii U at a later date - SKU’s of varying peripherals. What if they show us a console at a higher price-point which includes the controller I’ve spent this article ragging on, and at a lower price-point announce a controller without a 6.2-inch screen keeping it all separated? As AbleGamers, all we can do is hope that this isn’t all for the console of the not-too-distant-future.

Oh, and I should probably mention that the system will be backwards-compatible with all those Wii goodies that are currently gathering dust around the house. Good on you, Nintendo - just don’t take it away.